Naval and Space Applications of Rubber

Naval and Space Applications of Rubber Naval and Space Applications of Rubber 5 C.M. Roland 5.1 Introduction Nine months before Pearl Harbor, an article describing the use of rubber by the United States Navy stated ‘Throughout the extensive network of Naval ships and bases, rubber is playing a vital part in the nation’s fi rst line of defense’ [1]. Certainly over the ensuing 60-plus years, the military’s utilisation of elastomers has increased substantially. Applications range from the sublime – a 900 kg rubber disk for the ejection of torpedoes [2] – to the mundane – ersatz rubber bricks for concealing sensors during Marine reconnaissance missions [3]. This chapter reviews current and potential future uses of rubber for Navy and aerospace applications. For many decades the military and the space program have both fostered development of new technologies, and that is true for elastomers. Longevity is a special concern, Navy ships having a 30 year life cycle (with aircraft carriers designed for 50 years of service life); nevertheless, the applications described herein very often were or are cutting-edge technologies. Although details of military applications are sometimes classifi ed, a more common barrier to information is the proprietary nature of the materials. Since the US government does not manufacture, private companies provide the rubber components and are responsible for much of their development. This limits the descriptions herein to largely a qualitative nature. 5.2 Acoustic Applications Rubber is very commonly used in various acoustic applications, especially by the Navy, taking advantage of the acoustic impedance match between rubber and water. If two materials have the same acoustic impedance, defi ned as the product of the mass density of a material and the sound speed, there will be no refl ections at their interface [4]. For low loss materials, the sound speed is proportional to the square root of the ratio of the density and the modulus (bulk modulus for longitudinal waves, or shear modulus for shear waves). Since the bulk modulus varies weakly among elastomers, fi ne-tuning the acoustic impedance of rubber relies mainly on adjusting its density. The acoustic properties of a variety of rubbers of interest to the Navy are available [5], although specifi c formulations tend to be proprietary. The attenuation 159 5Chapter.indd 159 21/12/07 11:18:59 Rubber Technologist’s Handbook, Volume 2 coeffi cient of rubber is a measure of the loss of intensity of the transmitted wave, the sound amplitude decreasing exponentially with product of the distance travelled and the attenuation coeffi cient. For longitudinal waves (oscillating in the direction of the sound propagation), this attenuation coeffi cient is proportional to the ratio of the bulk loss modulus to the bulk storage modulus. For elastomers, the loss tangent for longitudinal strains is usually less than 10-3 [1, 6]. Thus, sound waves can be transmitted long distances with minimal loss. When avoiding detection is the objective, sound waves must be attenuated. This can be accomplished by converting the longitudinal sound waves into shear waves (‘mode conversion’) [2, 7], since the loss tangent for sheared rubber is in the order of unity. This mode conversion can be achieved in various ways, such as constraining the rubber as a thin fi lm between two rigid surfaces, or by incorporating inclusions such as small glass spheres or gas bubbles. The interfacial rubber in such a confi ned geometry deforms in a shear (or extensional) mode, which is readily attenuated. The rubber itself can be formulated to be highly dissipative at the frequencies of interest. Maximum energy dissipation occurs when the viscoelastic response of the material falls into the rubber-glass transition zone at the applied frequency and temperature. For high frequency sound waves, the transition occurs well above the conventional glass transition temperature (Tg). As measured using scanning calorimetry at typical heating rates, Tg corresponds to a deformation time scale of approximately 100 seconds. Since the effective activation energy for local motion in polymers is very large (a 10 °C temperature change can alter the relaxation time by three orders of magnitude [3, 8]), relatively high Tg elastomers are required to obtain a room-temperature rubber-glass transition at acoustic frequencies [4, 5, 9, 10]. Conventional dynamic mechanical testing is often used to predict the material’s response to acoustic frequencies, by construction of master curves versus reduced frequency [5]. Even fi lled rubber is linearily viscoelastic for deformations less than 10-3 strain amplitude [11]. The strain amplitude of acoustic waves propagating through rubber is typically in the range from 10-5 to 10-10. Note that for detection, acoustic signals must be stronger than the ambient noise level. Under typical wind conditions, this corresponds to strain amplitudes equal to about 10-14. The important point is that acoustic properties can be characterised from conventional, small-strain dynamic mechanical measurements. These methods are all used by the Navy for quieting. One example is the rubber coating (‘acoustic tiles’) on submarines. The rubber’s acoustic impedance is designed so that the main echo of impinging sonar is amplifi ed (constructive interference) and directed away from the source. Diffuse echoes and internal noise are attenuated by a combination of the rubber formulation and the geometry of the coating layer. In the past these were blends of natural rubber (NR) with nitrile, polychloroprene (PCR), or (in some former Soviet submarines) 1,2-polybutadiene. Most acoustic tiles today are made from polyurethane (PU). 160 5Chapter.indd 160 21/12/07 11:18:59 Naval and Space Applications of Rubber 5.2.1 Sonar Rubber Domes Although sound enables their detection, it also provides underwater ‘vision’ to sea vessels. The sonic transducers on Navy surface ships are covered with rubber (Figure 5.1), and contained in a steel-reinforced rubber dome. On large ships the dome is located on the bow (forward part of the lower hull) while on smaller vessels it is on the keel (keel refers to the bottom beam running from bow to stern). The purpose of the bow and keel domes is to provide a hydrodynamically smooth surface, to minimise noise from water fl ow, and to protect the transducer. The latter was exemplifi ed in the terrorist bombing of the USS Cole in October 2000. The dome and its transducer survived intact, despite the damage to the ship itself (Figure 5.2). The sonar dome must transmit with minimal loss the sound energy, and cannot be disrupted by the fl ow of seawater. Initially domes were made of steel but these had poor sound transmission, were susceptible to corrosion and marine fouling (from barnacles, sea weed, slime-producing bacteria, etc.), and required internal supports, which obstructed the sound. The fi rst rubber sonar dome was installed in 1965, with actual production beginning in 1972. Figure 5.1. Sonar rubber bow dome 161 5Chapter.indd 161 21/12/07 11:18:59 Rubber Technologist’s Handbook, Volume 2 Figure 5.2. The guided missile destroyer USS Cole being returned to the United States after a terrorist attack in Yemen in October 2000. Despite the 150 m2 gash in the port side of the hull (upper photograph), as well as the jostling when the ship was mounted on a salvage transport vessel, the bow dome (seen in lower photograph hanging off the edge of the transport) was still functional. After repairs that included replacement of 550 tonnes of exterior steel plating, the Cole returned to sea duty 18 months later 162 5Chapter.indd 162 21/12/07 11:18:59 Naval and Space Applications of Rubber Sonar bow domes (Figure 5.3) are the largest moulded rubber articles in the world. They weigh 8,600 kg, are 11 m long, 6.4 m wide, and stand almost 2.5 m high. The rubber wall thickness varies up to a maximum of 20 cm. The construction involves manual lay-up of multiple steel-cord reinforced polychloroprene plies. The steel cords provide structural rigidity. To avoid interference with acoustic performance, the spacing of the cords must be less than the wavelength of sound (e.g., 1.5 m at 1 kHz). The rubber itself has minimal absorption over the sonar frequencies. The dome is fabricated on an open (one-sided) mould and vulcanised in a large autoclave. The bow dome is infl ated with approximately 95,000 litres of water, to an internal pressure of 240 kPa. Its location below the baseline of the ship minimises hydrodynamic resistance. Figure 5.3. Rubber sonar dome assembly mounted to bow of ship 163 5Chapter.indd 163 21/12/07 11:19:00 Rubber Technologist’s Handbook, Volume 2 Since their introduction, various improvements to the design of rubber sonar domes have been made, greatly increasing the expected lifetime. Problems with water migration and consequent wire corrosion were corrected by blocking the migration pathways in the wire. Problems with wire fatigue have been addressed by identifying cracks using X-ray radiography of the high stress regions. Such inspections have enabled targeted dome replacement, eliminating at-sea failures. Some sonar domes have been in continuous service for over twenty years. Recently, a rubber and plastic laminate dome (Figure 5.4) has been developed to replace the steel-cord reinforced keel dome. A prototype composite keel dome has been in sea trials since 1997 on a destroyer surface ship and production for other ships has begun. Composite domes using fi berglass and polychloroprene have been used on submarines for over two decades. 5.2.2 Active Sonar Another acoustic application of rubber is the use of active sonar for detection of submarines and surface ships.

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